Vulcanized (per)fluoroelastomers have been used in a variety of applications, in particular for manufacturing sealing articles such as oil seals, gaskets, shaft seals and O-rings, because of several desirable properties such as heat resistance, chemical resistance, weatherability, etc.
A frequently used method for manufacturing (per)fluoropolymers, in particular (per)fluoroelastomers, involves aqueous emulsion polymerization of one or more fluorinated monomers generally in the presence of fluorinated surfactants. Frequently used fluorinated surfactants include perfluorooctanoic acids and salts thereof, in particular ammonium perfluorooctanoic acid.
Recently, perfluoroalkanoic acids having eight or more than eight carbon atoms have raised environmental concerns. Accordingly, efforts are now devoted to phase out from such compounds and methods have been developed to manufacture (per)fluoropolymer products by aqueous polymerization procedures using alternative surfactants having a more favourable toxicological profile.
For instance, WO 2010/003929 (SOLVAY SOLEXIS S.P.A.) Jan. 14, 2010 discloses a process for the manufacture of a fluoropolymer by aqueous emulsion polymerization of one or more fluorinated monomers in the presence of at least one cyclic fluorocompound having formula (I) here below:

wherein:                X1, X2 and X3, equal to or different from each other, are independently selected from H, F and C1-C6 (per)fluoroalkyl groups, optionally comprising one or more catenary or non-catenary oxygen atoms,        RF represents a divalent fluorinated C1-C3 bridging group,        L represents a bond or a divalent group, and        Y represents a hydrophilic functionality selected from anionic functionalities, cationic functionalities and non-ionic functionalities.        
It would thus be desirable to find alternative routes for manufacturing (per)fluoroelastomers in a convenient and cost-effective way through fast reaction rates using equipments commonly used in the aqueous polymerization of fluorinated monomers with traditional fluorinated surfactants.